The state of MI will pay the $97 million bill and keep another $10 million from federal in reserve if necessary.

-The agreement calls for extensive water monitoring following the line replacements to ensure the water is safe to drink, including the use of a third-party independent monitor.

-The state will continue its Medicaid expansion for Flint residents - covering pregnant women and children under 21 years old up to 400 percent of the poverty level - through March 2021. Many locals have reportedly been poisoned by the lead that has seeped into their water supply.

But numerous problems that lead to the contamination still have to be addressed in other areas of MI and across the United States, he warns.

The agreement also includes ways for the state to begin closing the nine Flint water distribution sites, starting May 1, depending on demand. "This problem has not been solved". Of the $87 million, $47 million of that must come from financial sources other than federal water infrastructure improvement funds from the Obama-era, according to KTLA. The state will be responsible for the rest of the $97 million.

The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit filed a year ago by a coalition of religious, environmental and civil rights activists that alleged Flint water was not safe to drink because state and city officials were violating the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Corrosive water caused lead to leach from from joints, pipes and fixtures, causing a spike in toxic lead levels in the blood of Flint children and other residents.

Despite evidence of water poisoning from the accounts of experts and residents, the agency failed to inform state officials and even lied to the EPA, affirming the city was properly treating the water. For decades the city of Flint paid Detroit to have its water piped in from Lake Huron, with anti-corrosion chemicals added along the way.

The deal marked a major agreement to replace piping that played a significant role in Flint's 2015 water crisis that prompted dozens of lawsuits and criminal charges against former government officials. He says negligent officials involved in the crisis still need to be brought to justice.

Late previous year, Judge Lawson issued an injunction requiring the delivery of bottled water to any home that did not have an operating, properly-installed water filter. In November, Lawson ordered the state to deliver bottled water to residents who have trouble with filters, although the state said that remedy would be extremely hard to meet.

"The public announcement on the city's future water source, and town hall meeting should be scheduled for mid-April", Moore said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal.

"The higher standard of protection being offered for Flint residents is likely to be employed in some form for residents of other MI and US cities in the near future", he says.